Last of the summer whine

Some Remain advocates are using David Cameron’s memoirs as an opportunity for another whine about the referendum.

I write to praise David Cameron. His decision to hold a referendum and to let the people decide was a good one. I am glad to read that he defends it in his new book. He should be proud that he decided to trust the people to make this important decision.

I must now give David some advice. He should also be proud of the decision the voters made. He and the government he led was unequivocal. They told us they would implement whatever we decided. That implied he rightly though the UK could have a good future either way. I am very proud of the UK people voting as we did. We showed confidence in ourselves and our country. We saw that things can be better if we leave. As a man who led our country and studied public opinion closely for six years, he should welcome the clarity the voters gave him on this troubling issue.

I don’t like to think of David still worrying about the consequences of what he put in train. He should remember that the Lib Dems called for a referendum on In or Out of Europe . Labour supported the legislation he put forward to give us a referendum. 544 MPs voted for the actual referendum we held. The main parties at one time or another have all favoured a referendum, understanding that the mighty Treaties we have signed between our original membership and today did need to be put to the UK electorate directly.

I would also argue that we show ourselves to be good Europeans by voting to leave. The EU project today is to seek the full political union that the large currency, economic and monetary union requires to make it successful. As the UK under governments of all three main parties has refused to join the Euro, we need to get out of the way to let all those who do want a much fuller union to complete their construction. Out of the EU we can spend our own money, make our own laws and be truly global in our outlook and reach. The sooner we do so the better.

David tells us he would like the country to pull together more. He can help it do so by using his book launch to urge all his friends to get behind Brexit and help us make it a success.

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MarkB, It seems that neither David Cameron, nor George Osborne, have learnt anything from our vote to Leave their EU empire (hat tip: Verhofstadt). Both of them perceive the Referendum as something they got wrong, whilst being perfectly oblivious to the importance of the voting majority being opposed to their EU. It is as though our existence and our votes are irrelevant to people like them. Ohh . . . .

I won’t be buying his book either. Apparently his advance alone was £800,000. Oh well at least he won’t have to worry about his kids coming out of university with crippling debts hanging over them for most of their working lives unlike all those in England, and England alone, he has saddled with these debts.

Sir John, your penultimate paragraph needs to answer the question why does the EU not allow us to leave amicably? We are ‘reluctant Europeans’ according to JC Junker, so the logic is to have us leave but remain friends. The EU bureaucracy seems not to want this. Surely there is one reason; we pay! We pay net, far more than France who has a similar size economy, and we ‘pay’ an enormous budget deficit for goods, many of which we could probably get cheaper elsewhere if we didn’t have to enforce EU tariffs.

The main reason is not financial. It is political. The EU simply cannot afford under any circumstances for Britain to succeed outside the EU as this will lead to others leaving. That is why the WA was written by the EU so as to maximise their control for as long as possible. As was said, no nation has signed such a document as the WA unless they had lost a war.

However, Agricola, this book is worth reading for a different point of view on the subject of the Treaty of Versailles. There may even be analogies where the EU is concerned (I haven’t read it all yet).
”A Perfidious Distortion of History” by Jurgen Tampke.

Not much has changed where the french are concerned. They think it’s all about them, and they don’t give a bugger about anyone else.

In fact it was always said that the EEC would have been a good thing if the french weren’t in it. I remember when we joined the EEC the french declared it was essential they were in the driving seat of Europe. That should have been a warning to other members, and france should have been expelled there and then.

But then locking other countries into crippling treaties for the purpose of plundering other’s resources is the french way. They haven’t really progressed from the Gaullist psyche.

I disagree that it’s mainly political. Yes, certain countries in the EU want and benefit from a Pan-European superstate. Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands etc, it gives them security without cost. The rest, I believe, don’t want a ‘European Empire’, as Mr. Verhofstadt puts it. For the UK it simply doesn’t make economic NOR political sense. We are paying for a new political regime and it costs us in trade AND it costs us in providing military protection.
Germany has long been living off the military umbrella of NATO (USA), and now it gets cheap fuel from Russia (conflict of interest?). Germany has taken advantage of the rest of Europe, by its financial contribution to the EU. It gets whatever it wants. The EU bureaucracy is a puppet organisation, with simply a veneer of democratic accountability.

The UK has a very specific set of financial circumstances which make leaving more attractive than staying. Those are being a substantial net contributor and running a large trading deficit with the block.

Other nations are either net recipients or run a trading surplus such that paying in is worthwhile.

If the EU negotiates a deal with us that lets it still run a surplus there is no reason for others to leave. Thus the reason they want us to fail is because we might show it up as the protectionist arrangement it is by trading successfully outside the customs union.

Why the guilt-ridden, metropolitan, apologists for the UK’s existence want to stay in so badly is less clear.

WE CAN LEAVE, we dont need the EU’s permission . It OUR MP’s, Speaker and main broadcast media that are preventing us. They have made up stories about dire consequences of ‘no deal” all of them untrue, all of them easily investigated and shown to be nonsense but they keep going . the BMA , the BMA the very people GP’s that were formally the most trusted people in the country tell us that insulin will run out while the head of the company who actually supply it here says we definitely won’t and they have 12 months supply in the country , they are knowingly lying in order to overturn a democratic vote

Libertarian, The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is another establishment culprit. Have a look at the BRC’s Tariff Road Map. It is complete Remain tosh: unrecorded assumptions, fakery, mediocre, and petulant.

Contents of the discussions held between Mr Barnier and people like Dominic Grieve, Anna Soubry, Chucka Ummuna, Jeremy Corbyn and Lady Nugee should be made public.

I’m suspect that those MPs encouraged Brussels to act tough while assuring Mr Barnier that they and their like minded colleagues in the Houses of Parliament would do whatever necessary from this side to disrupt Brexit.

This may explain the hysteria over Boris’ pledge to leave by 31st Oct., even if a deal is not agreed.

You can leave amicably, and you can then talk about a good trade deal. the EU has made that VERY clear, over and over again. You have to settle the bill for existing agreed commitments of course, you have to find a way to keep the Irish border invisible, a problem created by the Uk’s decision to leave the EU, and you have to see to the rights of existing EU and UK nationals living in other states. But you smart Brexiters will have no problem will that, will you? You will of course face up to your responsibilities, wont you? Then all will be sweetness and light.

Andy, Not so. As has been frequently recorded on here, not least by Denis Cooper, even the EU does not think that the EU’s single market has benefited the UK by more than about 1% of UK GDP.

And of course EU rules harm both our domestic market, and our exports to the rest of the world, being typically set to suit economies like Germany and France, not ours. Setting our own trade policy is therefore crucial for our wealth. Only Brexit frees us to do that.

LOL. Andy the die-hard remainer. Why will we be poorer? Will the EU be better off with OUR leaving without a deal? They stand to lose much more than we. Besides that, trade will not stop just because we leave. Exports and imports will be subject to a WTO common tariff if there is no deal. Because of the enormous Trade deficit (£90)B) we carry with the EU We stand to net gain £Billions from that.
How do you think the Rest of the World manages without the EU controlling their lives? Little Iceland, Singapore, South Korean, Taiwan, Australia and NZ and of all the other members of the Commonwealth are Independent Nations and they thrive without being held down by the heavy chains of the old communist-style bureaucracy that pervades the EU.
Such way-out-of-date principles brought down the USSR and it will certainly do the same to the EU.
Think more of YOUR country(If you are British) than of your mentors in Brussels and believe in Britain as a FREE Nation. Or leave the Country to find peace inside the citadel over there.

Ah that old chestnut. Well you better provide some evidence , which jobs would go and why would they go? In what industries?

This is the biggest lie of them all, has no logic or common sense about it at all . Even if the industries that currently sell to the EU stopped selling totally to the EU ( no idea why they would do that) we wouldn’t lose half a million jobs

The Medical profession and others all claim that hordes of EU workers are leaving to go home ( its actually not true but hey) There are 2.9 million EU nationals working in the UK even if only 10% left that would CREATE 290,000 job vacancies

Oh and by the way we currently have 812,000 unfilled full time jobs in the UK

I would really like to see you explain this claim of job losses please

Andy, EU membership costs Britain a fortune. The only beneficiaries are the five per cent 5% of UK businesses that trade with the EU. Many of these are large multinational companies which dominate bodies such as the CBI. They can hire PR and lobbying firms to get their stories and agendas across to Government departments, to the detriment of smaller businesses that trade within the UK or with non-EU countries.
The single market is a rip-off, funded by the British taxpayer.

Well that’s not correct Helena.
The EU has refused to talk about a trade deal for the last three years.
The agreed bill needs adjusting down now because of the delay in leaving.
We have continued to pay billions to the EU whilst that time has gone on.
The UK has shown ways the current border in Ireland can be arranged but the EU has refused to accept any option.
The UK has said it will guarantee EU citizens living and working here can stay.
The EU has refused to give any reciprocal guarantees for UK citizens living and working in the CEO.
So your whole post is a nonsense.

Helena haven’t the UK part settled the forward agreed budgeted bill by staying in longer than we expected to, an extra year and 3 months so surely this bill you talk about ‘for existing agreed commitments’ should be reduced anyway!

It’s a lot worse than that. The Governor of the Bank of England, CBI and a whole long list of Civil Serpents and Government Agencies with their doom and gloom and forcasts. They lied through their teeth and still do so after four years! We’ve had enough and the legacies and stables need to be swept away …………..forever! Patriatism and promoting English values and destroying political correctness is needed now. Selection by merit and not pc bs!

Well he had all the cards that you list but he was on the wrong side of the argument. He had come back with his thin gruel and tried to defend this sick joke. Most could see it was a simple choice. The end of democracy (and become mere regions of the EU socialist, anti-democratic superstate or restore UK democracy and UK court supremacy.

He was wrong and the voters could see this, all the other cards were insufficient to overcome this fatal flaw.

Indeed Cameron failed to prepare for both outcomes and pathetically just abandoned ship. The man is pathetic and totally dishonest. He gained power by claiming to be a “low tax at heart Conservative” and a Cast Iron EU-sceptic. It turned out he was the complete opposite he lied to get the job.

He did not even keep Osborne’s IHT £1 million each tax promise. He was a tax to death, EU-phile who, in an act of gross negligence and utter contempt for the people failed to prepare for a Brexit outcome and then just abandoned the ship.

The endless lies from Cameron are all clearly documented. His calling of Farage’s UKIP party ‘fruitcakes and closet racists’ was a total disgrace. Farage was completely honest and far, far superior to Cameron. He was not remotely racist. Cameron’s book serialisation shows him to be even more of a pathetic man than I thought he was already.

Exactly – one third of their MPs were elected to other parties. Those same MPs who now insist on a second referendum but refuse to put themselves up for re-election in a by-election. We need a recall system in our politics now more than ever!

“Implement” whatever we decided? Well, go on, tell us what was decided. To leave but keep the exact same benefits, as D Davis said? Show me that deal. Leave, but be in a free trade zone stretching from Iceland to Turkey, as M Gove promised? Where’s that deal then? Leave, and have the German carmakers hammering on Mrs Merkel’s door to demand we get a great deal, as Duncan Smith told us? Where’s that deal? And where are all the other countries who you leavers told us would be falling over themselves to give us a great new trade deal? I await answers, I’ve been waiting for over three years. Bottom line – there is nothing to “implement”. 17m people voted in 2016 for something that does not exist and can never be implemented – a pain free Brexit. Isnt going to happen. Stop Brexit now before we wreck our country even more

So let’s see how the incredible hulk gets on tomorrow with Junker in his bunker?

the term Incredible Hulk presupposes that UK has some valid right to be angry with the EU for not agreeing to allow UK to cherry pick its way to the FTA of its dreams- well am afraid that WTO Rules do no work like that- all future stuff will take time to work out- a lot of time. The whine is on the Boris side and am afraid the EU as usual is saying little.

Give up. You are clueless. We DO NOT WANT the so called benefits , WE DO NOT WANT a customs union, a single market or free movement

You might await answers but it helps if you read them

We currently have 44 new deals signed , even the EU has signed some interim deals

Here from the EU website ( shorten version for moderator)

Sector-specific regulation
Financial services
After a thorough examination of the risks linked to a no deal scenario in the financial sector, the Commission has found that only a limited number of contingency measures is necessary to safeguard financial stability .
The Commission has therefore adopted today the following acts:
A temporary and conditional equivalence for EU operators currently using UK operators.

Transport
The Commission has today adopted two measures that will avoid full interruption of air traffic between the EU and the UK in the event of no deal. These measures will ensure basic connectivity

Customs and the export of goods

The Commission has today adopted the following technical measures:
A Delegated Regulation to include the seas surrounding the UK in the provisions on time-limits within which entry summary declarations and pre-departure declarations have to be lodged prior to leaving or entering the Union’s customs territory.

You might want to check facts before you post, stops you looking even more stupid

O dear libertarian, you are truly confsued! None of these are “deals”. All of these are measures taken unilaterally by the EU, and imposed on the UK which has no say at all in their making, but which is forced to suck them up and comply on pain of having its economy wrecked. See what “taking back control” actually means? It means being told what to do by a much bigger boy with a much bigger stick. Welcome to Brexit and welcome to powerlessness

You are being silly Les.
Read those statements from the EU again.
Financial services….equivolance for the UK
Transport…no disruption to flights
Customs…a sensible arrangement between EU and UK
Why would the UK reject those amicable arrangements?
You want to see chaos Les.
But it isn’t going to happen.

You were WRONG. You said there weren’t any . Why did you say that when you are totally WRONG ?

Er if any one is confused its you. They are EU deals that maintain the status quo as is until further notice, that is hardly an imposition and sucking it up is it. If you think that is how international trade agreements work, bigger boys with bigger sticks then you are in for a huge shock in the EU when the USA and China have a go at you.

So either you are very very stupid or you are wilfully ignoring the facts . Maybe dont post stuff that is blatantly incorrect?

The one big thing that will be lost is JIT. JIT is the answer to our economic success without it we are back to the 1960’s- but without a merchant navy. We become ‘Ourselves alone’ – or in the Irish gaelic Sinn Fein

Why will Just In Time as a procurement system be lost?
It is a world wide system and works well.
It is agreed between suppliers and customers.
There is no reason for it to falter just because we leave the EU.
Please explain Ferdis.

The UK voted to leave. The voters are not stupid; they did not want to be governed by the EU, but by a Government they elect and can dismiss.
The real turning point was Cameron seeking help from the EU on immigration and being told to s*d off; so we voted to do just that.

All the items you list Len, are items to be decided in a trade deal after we leave. The EU has flatly refused for over three years to start any trade negotiations.
Yet you think the lack of progress is our fault.

Len Grinds, No one before the Referendum vote had any trouble understanding what Leave meant – it meant departing from the EU, abrogating the EU treaties, and ceasing being governed in any way by the EU.

Most Leaves (not me) wanted that done via TEU Art50 and an amicable fair “deal”. The EU has refused a trade deal, and been vindictive and intransigent about the odious WA, which makes the UK “a colony”. Lay the blame in the right place.

There was no advice given and no promise made on the ballot paper. It contained only the one simple question: leave or stay? In particular, there was nothing about any deal.

Whom—if anyone—a man listens to and believes in making his mind up about which way to cast his vote is, of course, entirely up to him. If he is dumb enough he will believe what the meeja and many politicians tell him.

There is simply no accounting for how dumb people can be, and indeed are. Just look at who gets elected to Parliament for proof of that.

“17m people voted in 2016 for something that does not exist and can never be implemented – a pain free Brexit.”

Did they now — a “pain free” Brexit was an option on the ballot paper, was it?

You’re a prime example of whom not to listen to.

Some voted OUT irrespective of any “pain” that leaving might entail. I know a few personally. Indeed there might be millions of us. And who is to say there isn’t? You?

You want David ” to urge all his friends to get behind Brexit and help us make it a success”. And that, three years on from the referendum, is all you Brexiters have got left. No plan, no detail, no knowledge of how the EU and the WTO function (or, in the case of the WTO, doesn’t function). Just plaintive appeals to “get behind Brexit”. You sound like the supporter of a useless football team – you’re five nil down but you want us to “get behind” the lads, like that helps anyone

So what was your plan for remaining, what benefits would there be for everyone in the UK from staying in the progressive EU project? If the EU was so intrinsically beneficial why did you only push concocted fearmongering, where were the tangible benefits? Why were you incapable of convincing the majority who voted?

and answer came there none.
Will no one step forward and explain what consummate benefits will accrue from continued membership?
Last night at the proms, defined as it is by patriotic music and airs, was despoiled by the waving of flags representing a trading bloc and persons wearing a blue with circled yellow stars pudding hat resembling a sphincter or pus filled boil in desperate need of a squeeze.
To complete the irony of the situation these creatures were singing ‘Britons never ever will be slaves’!
Institutions such as this should never be politicised and whoever provided the EU flags and ridiculous hats should be exposed.
You really could not make it up.

Is that it? An analogy between Brexit and a football match? A little shallow, isn’t it, even for you? Try thinking outside the box – there’s a big world out here. It doesn’t end at the borders of your EU.
So yes – get behind your country for a change. Show some loyalty to it. You show plenty to your much-revered EU, and that isn’t a country, and is doing a lot of damage to its component parts. Or haven’t you noticed?

Having listened to that clip of Guy Verhoftadt explaining what the EU was trying to do at the Liberal Conference (become an Empire like China and India and USA), I am even more firm in my belief that Brexit, come what may, is the best way forward.
And Mr Cameron has had his day and should retire.

Indeed but he really meant one more like the USSR I suspect. I remember Ted Heath saying (of China) something like:- you cannot run a country of billions of people as a democracy. Doubtless why he loved burying us the anti-democratic EU.

Talk Of Boris going to prison because of his decision to suspend Parliament is uneducated nonsense.

Section 9 of the Bill of Rights very clearly protects freedom of speech and parliamentary process from being questioned in court. As long as Boris followed process the court cannot even talk about the process he followed.

The house could waive section 9 but only where no criminal action can be taken against a member.

“Judicial review is the court procedure whereby the High Court reviews the lawfulness of administrative decisions, including ministers’ decisions, as well as decisions of lower courts and tribunals. Ministers’ powers are limited, and in judicial review proceedings relating to a ministerial decision the court is asked to decide whether the minister acted outside his powers. He might have done so, for instance, by failing to take into account some important matter he should have had in mind or by misdirecting himself on the purpose for which a particular statutory power could be used. The court does not substitute its own discretion for that of the minister. If the minister acted within his powers his decision will stand. If he acted outside his powers his decision was unlawful and the court may quash it. It will then be for the minister to consider the matter afresh.

…

the House itself should be empowered to waive the article 9 privilege in any case where no question arises of the member making the statement being at risk of incurring legal liability.

…

the vital constitutional principle of freedom of speech in Parliament would be preserved. When they speak in Parliament members would have, as now, complete confidence that no legal liability could attach to them in consequence.”

In fact questioning or changing Prorogation can only be done by Parliament by an Act of Parliament such as the Five Year Fixed Term Act.

If Parliament wanted to stop the porogation they should have passed an act.

“Prorogation being a prerogative power, there is no obvious legal mechanism by which Parliament could prevent its exercise otherwise than by passing legislation to constrain it. Parliament has legislated to constrain or replace the prerogative in the past. For instance, whereas previously the dissolution of Parliament prior to a General Election was an exclusively prerogative power, the calling of an election is now governed by the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.”

The only possible way to stop a Government proroging Parliament for months or even years once it had been called is to pass a no confidence motion and to call a general election. Which of course Labour won’t do because they would lose heavily.

The remainers now have two weeks after prorogation to discuss and pass a new Act of Parliament to withdraw Art 50.

Boris could prorogue Parliament once the discussion was complete and Parliament had its say and before any legislation was passed and Parliament would have no option other than to pass a vote of no confidence.

In fact to stop Art 50 Parliament would first have to pass an act stopping Boris from using any Parliamentary procedure to prevent suspension of Parliament, including emergency powers, and then would have to pass a second act stopping Art 50. Two acts in two weeks. The first being massive. Plus Boris would want time to discuss his negotiations.

Welcome to freedom. All Boris has to do is not deliver the EU Withdrawal Act, imposed on May by the EU, for the Conservatives to then survive the Brexit party.

54. A cautionary warning must also be added on a point of constitutional importance. Since a ministerial decision may be debated in Parliament and also subjected to judicial review proceedings in court, it is possible that parliamentary proceedings and court proceedings regarding the same decision may take place simultaneously. This occurred in 1993, on an occasion of political sensitivity. On 20 July 1993 the House of Lords gave the politically controversial European Communities (Amendment) Bill its third reading. Meanwhile on 16 July Lord Rees-Mogg had applied to the court for a declaration that the United Kingdom could not lawfully ratify the treaty on European Union signed at Maastricht in February 1992, and for an order to quash the decision of the Foreign Secretary to proceed to ratify the treaty.[119] This was seen in parts of the House of Commons as an attempt to influence a political debate by judicial means. The Speaker rightly expressed the view that the House was entitled to expect that when the case came on for hearing, the Bill of Rights would be fully respected by all those appearing before the court.[120] Clearly, there is scope here for abuse. The courts must be vigilant to ensure that judicial processes are not used for political ends in a manner which interferes with Parliament’s conduct of its business.
55. The Joint Committee recommends that article 9 should not be interpreted as precluding the use of proceedings in Parliament in court for the purpose of judicial review of governmental decisions.

Javelin, I do not trust Boris to “not deliver the EU Withdrawal Act”. In my opinion, Boris is a bottler and he will do all he can to fulfil his promise to leave the EU on the 31st October even if it means agreeing to a repackaged WA/PD. I do not believe he ever had the intention of delivering a no deal Brexit if he is unable to reach an agreement with the EU and the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 6) Bill gives Boris all the excuses he needs to say he tried but failed to meet the deadline.

The prorogation of Parliament is one issue, while if he sticks with his refusal to send the letter asking for an Article 50 extension that would be another issue, and it would be that second issue that could land him in prison. For that issue he would not have the Bill of Rights on his side, the exact opposite:

“I don’t need to pore over the English Bill of Rights of 1689 to recall that it condemned James II for acting as if he was above the law, and the same would apply to the Prime Minister of the present sovereign … “

Javelin – I think the idea was that Boris went to jail for contempt following defiance of a court order to write the Benn Act letter.

Of course, even in jail he would still be PM until the House voted him out. Given the restrictions on visitors, mobile phones etc that prisoners suffer, I fear all government business would have to be smuggled in and out in the underpants of compliant screws.

Don’t think he actually trusted us….he thought he could bamboozle us into the “right” decision.
Unfortunately for him there were those who had been praying for the chance of a Referendum.
But the political class is just too mean to allow us that victory.
Presumably after all his other attempts at creating a legacy he thought he could put the “Europe Question” to bed. Well he didn’t and the Tory party lies in worse tatters than ever …just like the country.
Not a good vintage as politicians go.

David Cameron was shallow in my mind, and his “knowledge” of the EU was superficial. He himself admitted to being “clueless” about the EU.

I suggest also that his understanding of the British people was poor and he thought dedicating himself to eradicating the Theresa May imposed label of “nasty” was the key thing to win voters. Hopeless. If you abandon your core and base policy on focus groups in order to hunt down the elusive centre ground of politics, then you deserve to have failed, which you did, in my mind.

I couldn’t care less about Cameron’s thoughts, opinions of feelings about the future constitutional direction of the UK or indeed his opinions on anything else for that matter

He turned the Tories into a vacuous, empty, insincere and unprincipled rabble. He was continuity Blair and that alone condemns Cameron

Cameron offered the British voter a referendum not because he believed the UK should return to a self-governing, independent nation. He offered it for purely party political reasons. Why would you praise him for that? He had no allegiance to the UK and its democracy. His only concern was promoting the interests of the PCP.

Instead of dismantling Labour’s client state and its aim of undermining British democracy while promoting the EU’s grip over this nation he continued Blair’s efforts. And that deserves praise does it?

He turned the Tory’s into Liberal Democrats and as can be seen by its defecting MP’s going home!
The legacies deserve destruction for the lies and deceit shown over decades on the EU and its true intentions. Indeed Farage should be Knighted but what has May done? Arise traitor Sir Olly!

O/t Biased Broadcasting Corporation at it again, using a ‘Vote Remain’ photo in a news item announcing The Brexit Party taking control of a council. When are our political representatives going to sort them out for their blatant and unashamed propaganda. A tax funded state channel might have been acceptable in the 1920’s. In this day and age it is ludicrous. Very simple, just announce that it is no longer compulsory to have a television licence. There is no reason that they should not compete in the same way as any other commercial concern. If they exist at all after a few years we will be able to see how much time and monetary resource they have to spend on biased reporting.

At the birth of broadcasting it made sense in 1922 for the monopoly supplier to be state owned.

For eighty years while the BBC kept to its mission to educate and entertain it was the jewel in the crown of British culture, admired and loved at home and overseas, and the epitome of soft power.

In the last twenty years however there has been an explosion of alternative providers. In an attempt to compete BBC executives entered a race to the bottom, and have also unilaterally expanded the mission to include ideological propaganda and social engineering. In so doing they have ruined not only the BBC’s historic reputation for quality entertainment, but also its credibility as an impartial reporter.

The existence of a monopoly state-owned broadcaster is longer either necessary or desirable. The BBC has outlived its purpose. Except perhaps for the World Service which could be maintained under new management by the Foreign Office or the Department for International Aid.

The rest of the current organisation could just be disbanded. But the back catalogue and physical assets have some value, so it should be privatised through an auction.

The proceeds should be given to current licence holders, or all British citizens, before the Corporation’s centenary in 2022.

I think that you are giving Cameron too much credit: he knew that the issue was increasingly unavoidable and was patronising and wrong…as most of the MPs playing their little games in Parliament still are, it’s like watching toddlers fighting in a sandpit. Even better, he just walked away and washed his hands when he could have stayed and fulfilled his promises to the country.

Mr Cameron’s quoted remarks in the Sunday Times about Johnson and Gove during the referendum serve to diminish his reputation more than theirs. They reflect spite on his part and an utter failure to understand what the country of which he was PM.

He calls the £350 million a week for Europe a lie. Yet it was the gross figure paid to the EU. The latest ComRes survey reveals popular distrust of the political class and, more worrying still, of the institution of parliament itself. This reflects the latest parliamentary shenanigans that seek to frustrate Brexit. MPs are playing with fire. Unless they are careful they will get very badly burned. Cameron’s memoirs, no doubt carefully timed, add fuel to that fire. Clearly he has learned nothing since resigning from office.

Cameron seems peeved that people do not view him as a great PM. Maybe he is beginning to realise that he was not revered and in fact many thought he was not up to the job having no real principles, but instead always chasing focus groups and focusing on “image”. Yes, he had the salesman patter, but a large proportion of the electorate were not fooled. He was superficial, and now he seems to be whining/appearing miffed that we didn’t appreciate him as we apparently should have done. I, for one, feel that we are well rid of him.

Until such time as the European Union becomes a nation state, which seems to be its most urgent ambition, I will never accept that damned blue rag that was polluting the “Last Night of the Proms” yesterday.

Blame the utterly gutless Tories who sat and watch without protesting against the BBC’s descent into a pure-bred propaganda organisation obsessed with keeping this nation tied to the EU and operating as a social control conduit as it promotes its progressive agenda

There’s only way to dismantle it all and that is to vote BP. A vote for the Tories, Marxist Labour and the LDP is a vote for the status quo and ever more authoritarianism

I too watched The Proms last night. The songs at the end, the people stood out in the dark in other locations – all singing their heads off in support of these nations. It always brings tears to my eyes. . . . With the BBC’s constant anti brexit and mass immigration stance i’m wondering when they’ll do “The Last night of the Poms”.

And the French blue berets. All bobbing up and down and singing Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory. They are truly clueless.
Still that should be the last time we see that particular spectacle at the Proms, unless Boris lets us down again.

If Boris despite all his promises, pivots to a Brino Westminster fudge, I believe the ensuing disappointment (not to say fury) will be such as to ensure that The Brexit Party will form the Government at the next election.

Said “blue rag” nowhere in evidence amongst the democracy protestors outside the British Consulate in Hong Kong. It seems when it comes to symbols of democracy, it just doesn’t figure. They are all sporting the Union Flag.

Exactly Cameron should get behind the referendum result. The one he promised to implement and serve the section 50 notice the next day. This rather than attacking Boris for sensible supporting the right leave outcome. He should also have ensured that government had prepared properly for both outcomes (not to do was gross negligence by his government and by the civil service bureaucrats).

The bus advert was not a lie, merely a suggestion and nor was it a lie to talk about Turkey possibly joining. Yes we had a veto (which everyone knew and was pointed out endlessly) but the history of the EU is the UK parliament endlessly giving up vetos and powers to veto (without authority from the people).

I do not believe, as Cameron claims, that Boris did not really want a Brexit outcome. Or that he only supported leave for career advancement. He was perhaps torn on the issue but came down to the right conclusion despite his appallingly remain familiy Libdim family.

The truth is Cameron had a huge oportunity (and the ability) with two open duck elections to be a great PM – all he has to do was to be the low tax at heart, cast iron EU sceptic that he claimed to be. Alas, at heart, he was just another misguided Libdim.

“To me it is perfectly clear that our politicians would strongly resist any attempt to give the British people a direct say on whether Turkey should be allowed to join the EU, and we would be in another, probably unsuccessful, campaign to get a referendum.”

“My second reason for thinking it is that if they wanted us to have a referendum before Turkey could join the EU then they would have put that into the “referendum lock” law, the European Union Act 2011, but rather than doing that they did the exact opposite by putting in a blanket exemption for all accession treaties, Section 4(4)(c), which has already been invoked to rule out a referendum on whether we wanted Croatia to be admitted to the EU.”

Boris should bring forward a bill that would require a UK referendum on any EU treaty change.

And to the extent possible a presumption that the UK will always vote at the Council of Ministers against ANY and ALL proposals from the Commission unless it’s clear intent and guaranteed outcome is to return powers from the centre to the Member States.

Cameron was an over-promoted SpAd from a privileged background. He suited a party looking for a leader in a Blairite style.

The referendum was a device to see off Eurosceptic issues within the Conservative party. It was assumed a good campaign would settle the debate and then it would be business as usual again. When Leave won Cameron had no idea what to do. So he ran away.

Now he has a book to sell and publishers want him to generate sales by making headlines.

Sam Gyimah finally joins the Libdims. He should have joined them in the first place but probably thought he would have more chance of a seat by pretending to be a Conservative. He even wanted to lead them a few months back!

Oxford PPE yet again! Wiki has a list of about 100 Oxford PPE/politicians – only about 10 of them are remotely sound. Is it the types who are drawn to this course (like moths to a flame)? Or is it the course itself (and then group think that sets in) that actually brainwashes them? I suspect it is more the former and the group think.

Someone who aspires to politics is probably showing they are rather unsuitable for the job (JR, Lilley, Cash, Farage, Baker and a few others excepted). They are the types who aspire to bossing others about, taxing them to death and then pissing their taxes down the drain on nonsense like HS2, counterproductive wars, greencrap subsidies, state monopolies in health care and educaton, £50K loans for largely worthless degrees and similar.

The lesson from David Cameron’s tenure is that the country was not united
on this issue. What is remarkable is that those who voted Leave come from
many different philosophical backgrounds. But under the party system, you
must shoehorn your philosophy into one or other political ideology or
you are effectively disenfranchised. We need more referenda, not more “unity”.

This is true. We are pix celled into little boxes and we have to comply with some of the rubbish these boxes exude. It surely should be a matter for each individual voter as in a referendum. Party politics should come second and third. I don’t see any truly great leaders and David Cameron certainly wasn’t one. He did his job nicely and ineffectually.
B J and DC have been in strong competition since University I have read in a few different places which I am not going to waste time on researching and referencing.Philosophy is about thinking problems through and not sticking to ideology.It is about entrances and exits but once we are put into these little boxes we need a magician to get out.

No. The problem is the electoral system which prevents replacements for the obsolete LibLabCon from growing and achieving electoral success. The issue of EU membership is one of the most important issues of the age and not a subsidiary issue like fox-hunting. That being the case the failure of our electoral system to allow explicit representation for those that want to become part of the EU empire and those that believe our destiny is outside the EU demonstrates its abysmal failure. Hence the shenanigans of the last three years.

If the EU was not running out of money I think they could view our departure in a very different light and welcome us as a friendly neighbour. Also a wiser man than Cameron would have waited to publish their memoires until after Brexit so it could take it’s place in history, explaining the past.

Instead he has allowed it to be hijacked by the Remainers and the media who are struggling for viewers and readers. From the quotes so far it would appear that the last few chapters have been written in recent weeks and it has been suggested that some 100,000 words were discarded so the book could be published now and not as planned much later in the year.

He spent 9 million of tax payers money on a pre-referendum leaflet and no doubt he will make a few bob from this book before it disappears and gathers dust

Joe Swinson is now perfectly clear that she just wants to completely defy the voters’ will and revoke section 50 (without even bothering to ask them). She clearly thinks the voters are thick and racist and that she knows far better. She was briefly a marketing and public relations manager for Hull-based commercial radio station Viking FM first standing for parliament at age 21 for the profoundly anti-Liberal and anti-Democratic Libdim party.

Why on earth does she think she know best? Crowds are usually far more sensible than MPs. They are looking after their own interest and are closer to the coal face. MP often just look after the interest of MPs and suffer from Politician Group Think and an almost complete absense or proper scientists, mathematicians, business people and sensible engineers.

As an example of this wisdom:- all but a handful of MPs supported the hugely damaging and totally insane Climate Change Act. Ask the public and a very large majority would be against it. This despite all the “BBC think” attempted brainwashing over climate alarmism.

Does anyone seriously think that for example Nigel Farage would keep us in ?

I think you’ll find that the next election will clear the swamp. We cannot have the country sold down the river because of a minority, they will get their comeuppance and we will be out of the EU. This is why Labour are terrified of a general election, they also know the gaff is blown wide open i.e people are now very astute as to the left’s contempt of democracy and their downright treachery. From Blair onwards they’ve been having us over……it stops now.

Labour are finished and they know it. Conservatives might, just might, survive by the skin of their teeth depending on Boris, but if he capitulates in any way to the EU his party will go the same way as Labour – dead as a dodo.

Mr Farage has yet to have his day, and when he does his electors will expect of him every capitulation made by this government to be ripped up.

Great title! Unfortunately, like so much of what you post it is untrue.

Brexit Day is not the last of anything. It is the start. It is the point at which you actually have to deliver. You promised Brexit would make the country better and richer. You actually now have to do it – while making nothing worse.

This is what Brexiteers promised in 2016.. I doubted you would ever succeed but even I have been awestruck by your level of your collective incompetence.

When old people who voted leave realise they were betrayed – which they eventually will – they will turn against Brexit in droves. Plenty of others will just die angry. Combined with the overwhelming Remain majority among young people this will soon see us rejoin the EU.

Brexit Day is the start of something great. Our chemotherapy treatment against the Brexiteer cancer. The treatment will hurt. There will be horrible side effects but we will beat it – for the sake of our children.

That depends how things go. If, as you expect, Brexit is a failure and the UK underperforms, while at the same time an ever-integrating eurozone starts, against all present evidence, to perform well, then of course the UK population will want to re-join. And we would have to join as fully integrated members, euro included. If on the other hand, a dynamic free- trading UK outperforms an ever sclerotic eurozone, Then the opposite will be the case.

In both Switzerland and Norway the referenda on EEA and EU membership were fairly close, with the business communities united in supporting the EU option. Today in both countries there is minimal support for joining the EU, despite the sub-optimal arrangements both countries have. If the UK chooses the right policies post brexit – a big If – it will be the same here.

Andy, Well, get your fellow Remain fanatics to back down from overturning our vote to Leave, and give us the next 48 years, then come back and see if the UK is better, or not. The people who are betraying “Brexiteers” are Remains.

It is beginning to look like the Remainers might actually be able to halt Brexit.

The latest trick appears to be to try and put off an election until after a second referendum. Presumably this is because the Remainers don’t think they can win a general election but might have better luck with a second referendum. Very democratic, that !

It would appear that with the help of Bercow’s “creativity” they might just have the numbers in Parliament to organise a referendum. It is therefore important that Boris secures a deal at the EU summit that he can put to Parliament. But could he get it through Parliament ?

If Swinson swings the LibDems behind revoking A50 at their conference, they will surely vote against any deal. Labour could allow a free vote which might have the same effect.
Add Leavers in the ERG and it seems unlikely that a Boris version of May’s deal without the backstop will not get through Parliament.

We might have to start preparing to win a second referendum. It will be far more divisive than the first one, even though we now have far more anti-EU ammunition than last time.

You may be right, but consider that a second referendum is likely to be rigged by the EU’s quislings. They pulled the same stunt in Ireland, so there’s no reason to naively believe they won’t do the same thing here.

Besides the EU has it’s filth in our establishment just as in all member states. I have a feeling this will not be resolved by a corrupted Parliament. Remain have successfully taken brexit to a sectarian level as was their intention, so logically it will be sorted out on the streets.

In fact I dare say it’s started, in the last month I’ve seen two serious punch ups over brexit……one at a petrol station the other at my local pub.

Steve and Nick, yes, the Remainers will certainly try to rig a second referendum. If they succeed in getting one, the question is bound to be Boris’ (ie May’s revised) deal or remain.

Our host and his ERG compatriots will then have to decide which way to campaign. If, as I suspect, they will choose Leaving under the Boris deal, despite its obvious flaws, they might as well vote for it when he brings it to Parliament in October in the hope that it passes and a second referendum is avoided.

Cameron has lost all credibility by calling for a second referendum. He has also failed to place blame where it lies, with the undemocratic MP’s in Parliament, preferring instead to blame Boris and co. for not immediately sorting out the mess that Cameron and May left behind.

Boris is trying, but the rogue Parliament prefer to destroy democracy and hand us over to the EU, lock stock and barrel.

Let’s be honest John, the only reason Cameron through gritted teeth gave us a referendum was because the Tory party had UKIP nipping at their heels if they didn’t. And of course after spending £9 billion of taxpayers money trying to convince us, when it didn’t go his way, like a petulant child throwing their toys out of the pram, he resigned the next day. Cameron does not deserve any praise or credit for the referendum which he would not have allowed if he ever thought there was a chance of leave winning. He is now like every other remoaner who will not accept the democratic will of the people and wants to overturn it by offering another referendum.

Yet another wishy washy Lib Dem masquerading as a Conservative who should never have been in the party anyway and should certainly never have been leader. One of the good things about Brexit, and there are many, is it is flushing them all out. Maybe one day, we will once again have a party that is truly Conservative to vote for.

After hearing about parts of his book, Plus comments from other politicians about him. Put together, Cameron comes across as clueless vacuum. The next question is why was he selected by the tories as a PM. Then to go on and select May.

Labour’s war on private schools is an assault on the parental right to choose – James Tooley in the Telegraph today. It certainly is (and it’s a Gove policy too it seems what a socialist dope).

A VAT attack on it would clearly raise a net negative sum as so many would then have to go to state schools or would just leave the country. Many would lose incentives to earn more why bother if you cannot spend it as you wish to. Sound and profitable businesses would have to close and the quality of education would decline hugely. It would become rather like the dire NHS (take it or leave it mate we have your money already) state monopoly.

Education vouchers please and make all schools private, varied and competitive.

Of course as with most things nowadays, education is devolved, so Corbyn can only wreak his havoc on England’s private schools. That will enable the good old socialists, hypocrites that they are, to carry on sending their kids to private schools in Scotland or Wales if they wish.

Just one problem they never thought in a million years we would win. They have tried to rewrite history ever since.

A very crucial point that I have thought long and hard about for nearly a decade. Is that nobody thought the ECB would guarantee the member nations then Drahgi announced he would do whatever it takes. All of a sudden the rule book was ripped up.

So here is my prediction for the record. Monetary policy does not work and it is clear they have it upside down and back to front. Japan with 30 years of zero rates say they just need a little more time. The EU 7 years of zero rates say they just need more time. It is nonsense if it worked they would never of bad negative interest rates.

In fact the real data shows increasing rates causes inflation and cutting rates causes deflation. Via the interest income channels to the private sector. Businesses just pass the increased cost of borrowing on to their consumers via higher prices.

So if the EU does not introduce investment bonds on a per capita basis they are finished anyways. My prediction is they will be forced to introduce Euro bonds of Junker bonds whatever they want to call them after the next crises or the whole structure will fall down like a pack of cards.

Because at that point they have no other road to take as they have virtually banned fiscal policy due to their permanent austerity neoliberal fiscal rules. I hope the EU breaks up before that happens. Watch this space.

Unfortunately, Mr. Cameron has become rather like some other Remainers even going so far as to suggest there may have to be another referendum. Not that he is advocating one, of course! Just saying that we are stuck and there may have to be one.

Another referendum would solve nothing. It is unlikely to produce a decisive result for either side so ‘nothing will have changed.’ We would still have a minority government, a zombie parliament and a divided country.

It is a general election that is needed to allow voters the opportunity to decide what it thinks about Labour’s flip-flopping, the Conservative’s large Remainer tendency and the Liberals oh so democratic ‘we want another referendum as long as it produces the right result.’

Unfortunately, the choice is not a good one but at least there is Mr. Farage and the Brexit party. He has been described as not a fit and proper person although I’m not sure what that makes some of our current mainstream political shysters.

It is a question of whether the government carries out the wishes of the people or whether the people bend to the wishes of government. I would contend that as the electorate become more informed of the issues and options, then government must pay heed to the wishes of the people.

In David Cameron’s case does he just regret the result of the referendum. His immediate resignation suggests it. The chaos that has ensued is down to the behaviour of MPs, many of whom still think that the expressed wishes of the people can be ignored. The illiberal undemocratic Lib/Dems switching through 180 degrees seeing political gain in remain. Labour going into their own political maze, and those with a vested personal or family interest just going for the option that secures it. David Cameron was not of course helped when the EU scorned his desire to re-set the relationship between the UK and EU in his re-negotiation. A disdainful arrogance that will cost the EU. Prospects are good for us out of the EU, so lets just get on with it then go for a GE so that Parliament can be brought into line with the people and we remove all those elements that would work against the interests of the UK when out of the EU.

Didn’t lie about anything, mh, just read the literature and listened to Cameron, Letwin et al saying exactly what Brexit was and what it entailed if negotiations did not come up with a deal after 2 years. Remainers assumed they would win so many apparently did not even bother to read the government literature and listen to the Ministers and were apparently so laid back that they didn’t bother to research.

Don’t blame anyone else for not winning. The people gave their answer, but unfortunately many Remainers have not learnt to lose graciously and instead whine and jump and down, threatening this that and the other until they get their own way. They sound like spoilt children, but some have taken it much further and behaved treacherously in order to overturn the Brexit vote. They will not be forgiven.

Margaret H, Farage was talking about continuing to campaign for Brexit, not actually cancelling Remain. It is completely dishonest of you to conflate what Farage said and what the Remain Parliament is doing.

We are the laughing stock around the world. They are laughing at the end of democracy in the “mother of parliaments ” They are laughing at the childish, ignorant scare stories put out by remain, they shake their head in bewilderment at the MP’s and media that are so biased that they are bent double. They laugh at the BMA saying there will be delays in diabetes drugs when the head of the biggest company that imports 80% of them says there won’t . They laugh when the leader of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie association says Boris is wrong about pie exports then it turns out that in fact Boris is right and he is wrong. The foreign news ran loads of stories about that , they thought it was hilarious . They laugh at the civil servants who say there will be massive blockages at Dover when the Head of the ports of Calais and Dover both say there won’t be . They laugh when people said that the City of London would decamp to Europe , then Goldman Sachs opened their new European HQ … in London . Citigroup confirm that London will be the centre of their European operation. And on and on with example after example

Cameron professes himself a failure but is quite prepared to profit from that. It is a revolting spectacle to see him lining his own pockets with tittle-tattle. He should donate all his book profits to charity.

My complaint of David Cameron on the EU referendum question is that he and the government he led did not create a leave plan. People say today that there is no plan on how we leave the EU, and this goes all the way back to David Cameron. This is also my complaint on the 2nd ref question. Those who advocate it need to explain how a 2nd leave vote would be implemented.

You are right to complain there was no Leave plan, but you are wrong to blame Mr Cameron. He campaigned for Remain, and he had a clear plan – Remain, on his negotiated adjusted terms. No, you need to blame the Leave campaign – they failed to offer any plan for what Leave would mean, with the result, day by day, new problems pop up which they have not the slightest clue how to deal with – Irish border, blockages at Calais, health and safety inspections, loss of priviliged status under the EU’s trade deals with the rest of the world. Leavers campaigned for Leave without ever knowing what Leave entails – they still don ‘t!

Reply I published a clear and detailed Leave plan with colleagues and experts shortly after the referendum and invited the government to two all day seminars to explain it

Yes, your plan was to tell the EU we are leaving but expect trade to continue completely unchanged, and you expected the EU to agree because they need us SOOO much more than we need them. Those German carmakers, eh! You still believe that? You still learned nothing from the last three years of the UK punching itself in the face while telling the world how great Brexit is?

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German carmakers on Wednesday warned of fatal consequences if Britain left the European Union without a deal, predicting job losses and urging lawmakers to redouble efforts to ensure tariff-free trade can continue.

Tell me Garland what trade will not happen if we left on WTO terms?

Would the Europeans all stop buying mobile phones? Would they all stop drinking Scotch Whiskey? Would they never buy another Coldplay album ( Strike that one, its a benefit) Would they refuse to buy the worlds best selling Cancer Scanner Units, etc etc etc

One day a remainer will wake up and finally realise that its people that buy things, that trade is nothing to do with governments its about buyers and sellers ,customers and producers . All governments do is put taxes in place and some quality regulations . No biggie

Helena, Cameron was the Prime Minister who instigated the Referendum. He had the duty, and the right, and the power, to plan for Leave. No other had anything like such authority at the time. Cameron is to blame for not planning.

And complaining that Leaves didn’t know what Leaves entails is just projection: it is Remains who don’t know what Leave entails. There were numerous experts who the government failed to consult after the vote. There are numerous countries around the world in the Anglosphere which would have helped.

Far more important, and dangerous for the country, is that most remainers do not know what remain entails.

They are still believing Mr. Clegg’s lie when he debated Mr.Farage in 2014 and said that in the future the EU “would be largely the same as it is now” when we know it is planning further large expansions of members and competences on its way to being an empire as envisioned by Mr. Verhofstadt at the Lib Dem conference this weekend.

Rather than your complaint that David Cameron made no plan for leaving the EU if he lost the vote I would start with the complaint that his referendum Act did not even state that we would leave the EU if he lost the vote. Which glaring omission cost us nine months wasted on slow-motion legal actions, plus the passage of a separate Act which did say what should happen, or to be precise what could happen – “An Act to confer power on the Prime Minister to notify …” – during which nine months those who were determined to overturn the result could get themselves organised. And I am not so naive as to think this defect in the referendum Act was an oversight.

Yet the madness continues in the EU with their obsession to run trade surpluses all because of Germany.

It is ridiculous to use vast amounts of your skills and real resources stuff that you can run out of to produce stuff that other countries can consume. Then introduce fiscal rules which sole purpose is to dampen down demand for imports. Making sure most households across Europe can’t afford to buy them.

For what ?

Just so you hold a surplus of foreign currency at some foreign central bank that you will never use. No wonder both Japan and China are desperate to run trade deficits and leave the trade surpluses to the next fool that comes along which will probably be India.

Another reason why the EU is in the mess it is in and why remainers will never get their heads around the government accounts when it comes to trade. A trade deficit is a good thing and Thatcher knew it would free up our skills and real resources to concentrate on other things.

Less time spent in factories and more time on the golf course and spending more time with our friends and families. Let them use their skills and real resources to send us stuff to consume and give us bigger budget deficits so we can afford to buy them.

In return just give them blips in their BOE account something we can never run out of.

Sir John you report only the ‘good’ parts, as in curate’s egg. However, he only conceded a Ref fearing, with wise advice, that he may well have failed in election. So it was not genuinely wanting The People to have their say. Then once he failed again to get sufficient help from the EU, who themselves didn’t believe the UK would have the balls to walk away, he summarily abandoned his constituency. The actions of a weak, out of touch posh boy who threw his toys out of the pram – because HE COULD. The H of C and the H of L are full of those who are comfortably off, and don’t wish to concern themselves with the fate and damage to The People. Another ‘celeb’ best consigned to the heap of dismal history.

Seems to me there is unfair blaming going on against David Cameron. At least he gave us the referendum. Give the man some credit for that at least.

It is also due to him that we can now see exactly what kind of rot has been having the country over for the last 40 or so years. Were it not for him they would have carried on in their cosy EU gravy train, selling England by the kilogram.

However his wish to have the country pull together isn’t going to happen, people are polarised on brexit.

The majority in this country were stabbed in the back by Labour, the Liberals, Plaid, SNP, and it must be said the imitation conservatives. And then there is the Speaker working for the Labour party.

Anyone who thinks we’ll welcome traitors with open arms is, quite frankly, off his or her rocker. I and many like me wouldn’t cross the road to pee on one if it was on fire.

I heard a rumour on the evening of the referendum election before the votes were counted he was celebrating a remain result. How true this is, I don’t know. What we do know is that he ran away because it appeared he didn’t want to keep his word and enact the will of the people.

During his tenure as Leader and PM, he filled the candidate places with people of a specific type. Fast forward, how many of these candidates voted in as a conservative MP’s have crossed the floor to the lib dems and other remain parties. Speaks volumes about him. I’m glad I heeded my instinct and never voted for the ‘conservative’ party during this period, because now he is going against everything he said prior to the referendum and is supporting the remain MP’s.

The weekly figure of £350m gross per week was considered factually correct by a UK court so please stop perpetuating this lie. The EU army is a reality & Verhofstadt has declared that the EU wishes to become an Empire in his speech at the Lib Dems conference.

Longinus -thank god for that, so £350 million a week x 52 = £18,200,000,000 each year. yea we get a 1/3 back but they decide where to spend it but I would like to spend it on something we actually need

Turkey signed a Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995 and was officially recognised as a candidate for full membership on 12 December 1999, at the Helsinki summit of the European Council.
Speaking in Kazakhstan, British PM Cameron says European Union should stretch from the Atlantic to the Urals.

“The UK Prime Minister David Cameron has swept away the hopes of millions of Turkish people by suggesting that his government would block Turkey’s entry into the EU.

In sharp contrast to his previous stand, he mockingly said that Turkey would likely have to wait a thousand years to become part of the European Union. And even if the deal, which lets Turkish citizens travel to EU visa-free goes through, the UK would use its power to veto it, he said.

“We can stop Turkey from becoming a member,” he said in an interview on iTV’s ‘Peston on Sunday’ show. “Britain and every other country in the European Union has a veto on another country joining. That is a fact.”

He dismissed the idea that Turkey would join the bloc any time soon, joking that its current progress toward accession meant it would not become a member until the year 3000.

His comments come ahead of the June 23 referendum that will decide if UK wants to stay in the EU. The issue has divided the British polity.

His comments have angered the Turkish people.”

I would advise you not to stand in your Remoaner greenhouse throwing stones; the reality is that if the whole truth had been told by both sides during the referendum then Leave would have won by a much greater margin.

Turkish membership of the EU was backed by one David Cameron. In fact in 2010 he was reported to ‘angry’ that the bloc had frustrated Turkey’s entry. He was still saying the same thing years later. It seemed at the time that they were moving forward to membership, so re-writing of history in the Remoaner way will not do. Had not Erdogan become a virtual dictator and had he not taken the country backwards towards fundamentalism, things would have looked very different.

Cameron’s autobiography seems to be a self indulgent whinge, he conveniently forgets about how he loaded the referendum in his favour, the £9 million leaflet, getting Obama to threaten us, and the grotesque project fear, and complains about Boris, Gove and Vote Leave because they had a better argument and more passion than his lot could muster. Most damming of all he trails the idea of a Losers Referendum….now what did he promise us in the leaflet? Cameron has been silent for the last three years, it is unfortunate he thought we were now interested in what he had to say, we are not, best he go back to his Shepherds shed.

I gave you my frank, some might say brutal, opinion of David Cameron yesterday, JR; as you declined to publish it then there is probably no point in my repeating it today. I will just add that I don’t think Eton has been offering good value to parents who want their sons to grow up to be decent honest upright citizens rather than upper class shysters.

John McDonnall from the Times today:- Why capitalism is on borrowed time.

Instead of capitalism, he wants “a system where you reduce the level of exploitation, you establish a fair distribution of rewards and then you start developing other forms of ownership,” he says. “Eventually, I think you will get to a situation where goods will be held in common, so workers will own their own companies, [and businesses] will be democratically managed. That will evolve over time. What we will do is move it to the next step.”

As Churchill put it: “Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it really is–the strong horse that pulls the whole cart.”

McDonnall on the other hand wants to murder this strong horse that pulls the whole cart!
It is hugely dangerous lunacy from this deluded dope. Let us hope it is he and Corbyn who (thanks to Boris, Cummins & Farage and the circa 100 sound Conservatives) who are now borrowed time.

I salute David Cameron. He led an excellent govt, despite being in coalition with the Libdems for 5 years. He rescued the Country from near bankruptcy under Labour, getting the budget deficit down from over 10% to c 1% of GDP today. What he got wrong was the same thing as Mrs May – going into a negotiation with the EU, asking for very little, and clearly signalling that he would never walk away and would accept whatever was on offer.

You have a strange economic theory there Derek.
Based on you noticing things balance as in accountancy.
So there is a finite amount of money in the world no therefore new wealth can be created only one sector gets poorer if one sector gets richer.
Hilarious stuff.

On the Chart, everything below the zero line is a sector running a deficit. Everything above the zero line is a sector running a surplus. The two always net to zero.

You will see that the Rest of the World is running a surplus, paid for by those below the zero line running deficits.

The “General Government” sector is the only sector that is unconstrained in how large a deficit it can run. It is the currency issuer; it will never run out of its own currency to issue.

The UK is not “borrowing” from the Rest of the World; it is actually exporting Pounds Sterling to foreigners to pay for the imports from the Rest of the World. The latter has to find something to buy with these “foreign currency reserves” that is denominated for sale in Pounds Sterling and pays an income. It could be a Chelsea mansion; a car factory or government savings certificates called “risk-free” Gilt Edged Securities.

Imagine if we had a government that actually understood how a fiat currency economy can actually be deployed for maximum socio-economic benefit.

Thanks acorn
I just don’t believe in the magic money tree theory.
It is a simple as that.
Endlessly print and borrow and tax and waste big state socialism as a method of enrichment.
Tell your wierd pet theories to the starving people of Cuba, Zimabwe and Venezuela to name just three.

Oh the famous Jan.
If you believe one economist over all others then it is as you say “end of story”
Best to read wider as there are many economists and many eccentric theories.
In my opinion you conflate items that balance with items that have correlation and effect on one another.

We do not have a zero sum economy , thats one of the things that MMT relies on . The only thing Jan Hatzius said about this was and I quote from his report

Without endorsing MMT in its entirety, “we think its proponents make a couple of points that are both correct and important,” Hatzius wrote. One of them, he said, is that countries like the U.S. and Japan can’t go broke because they print their own money.

I remember one of the EU bosses saying about DC – -“He can ask for whatever he wants – – tomorrow we would just change it back again “. That showed the contempt the EU has for britain – They want our money and us destroyed – full stop.

Cameron managed to double the national debt and spent more in 6 years than Labour did in the previous 13 years under his austerity regime. Some great achievement. Even now the books don’t balance despite him and Osborne saying they would be in surplus by 2015.

It’s always surprising to read posts like this. Labour took the budget from balance to a deficit of 10% of GDP. The govt which takes over this mess can’t wave a magic wand and reduce the deficit to 0, it takes time. Each year there’s a deficit the stock of net debt increases.

Sorry John. I’ve no time for that ********** ( I could go on) Cameron guy. He let his country down big time and then handed the reins to an even bigger useless minister by the name of May. They have all betrayed their country and I hope Boris doesn’t do the same.

David Camerons main asset was that he looked Prime Ministerial material, prior to his hasty and inconsidered resignation he was in a good position to head up our withdrawing from the EU – even if all negotiations failed he had the two year time limit to fall back on.
The EU main contention is/was that no nation could be seen to negotiating a better arrangement than by staying in.

After his departure things went downhill fast, Conservative HQ put a totally
inadequate Mrs May in charge who then frittered away three years of useless bartering, leaving Boris a poisoned chalice to try to somehow revive matters except by some implementation of radical actions.

There needs to be a clear out of an entrenched HOC together with it’s accompanying baggage who have been a digrace.

I too am thankful for Mr Cameron’s decision to hold a referendum, what is often missed is the default option of “no change” was remain. Despite this and politicians and media support remain we got a clear vote to leave.

He should have accepted the vote and delivered on it, but it was better to resign and not act democratically, something that will be the epitath for many MPs.

Today even the rule of law is not above manipulation, I do not want a country where you can be arrested for whatever thought offends those in power. n. Here I suspect those calling for such in their quest to remain in the EU will have a reckoning at the hands of the electorate.

Article 50 is a one page document written in clear unambiguous English. What it does not say has been abused.
It did not give any rights to the withdrawing Member State, made clear in paragraph 4 – the member of the European Council or of the Council representing the withdrawing Member State shall not participate in the discussions of the European Council or in decisions concerning it.
The Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, meaning it will write it.
An extension has to be requested in ‘this period’ that ended on 29th March 2019. So a request to be granted had to be made before 29th March. It follows that a request for a further extension cannot be made ‘in this period’, it would be made outside of the period.
The duration and purpose of the extension was not stated. In granting the extension the EU Council stipulated the extra time was solely to permit ratifying the withdrawal agreement.
Parliament has until 31st October to ratify the WA under the terms of the extension. If it cannot do so (it has had ample time) there is no point in European Union (Withdrawal) (N0.6) Bill. It has other ulterior motives to postpone Article 50.

QC Stanley Brodie made a similar point about Article 50 (3); it is meant to allow the loose ends of an agreement to be tied up, it was never intended to stop a country leaving nor allow several bites of the cherry aka the Withdrawal Agreement.
Still, do as I say and not as I do, seems to be the name of the game.

The purpose of the clause is not stated. It is wrong to infer one purpose over another. It can be read as offering an opportunity to remain in perpetuity if all parties agree, since there is no timescale for any extension. Since the agreement of all parties is otherwise required, it allows the withdrawing state to make use of the guillotine on membership included in the clause. It is completely silent on the negotiating process and makes no link to it.

In the same way, 50(2) says nothing at all about the timescale for negotiations – it simply requires the EU to negotiate to reach an agreement and establishes the EU internal procedures to be used in negotiation and for ratifying it within the EU. That obligation is not extinguished by leaving the EU under the guillotine, because it continues to apply to the remaining treaty parties.

It did give a right to the withdrawing member in that it stated the the EU had to negotiate the WA taking account of the framework to the future relations between the leaving state and the EU. The EU refused to discuss future relations until the WA was ratified, thereby breaking their own treaty. I don’t see why we should be bound by any of it.

Cameron was another bright spark in the Tory leadership who fizzled out too quickly for our comfort. He too made a mess of his 2010 manifesto and subsequently whittled away a substantial lead over the incumbent PM Brown. He had to do a deal with those diabolical flip-floppers, the ones with an oxymoron for a Party title, the Liberal Democrats, just to ensure his Premiership.
I concluded soon afterwards that he was another Ted Heath, more a Liberal than a Conservative and sadly, much later, Mrs May, obediently followed suit.
I also concluded that he was more old school boy than good politician and he displayed a scary naivety when dealing with Brussels.
In the Royal Navy, he will never be forgiven for electing to scrap the whole of newly-refurbished (at a cost of £600 M but sold to the USA for £112M) Harrier squadrons , a world-beating jump-jet in preference to the RAF, against top Military advice leaving the Navy without a Fixed Wing, Carrier-borne Aircraft. Aircraft Carriers with no Aircraft! How and why would he have allowed this?
What Conservative Leader leaves Britain without a complete Navy and at once deliberately downgrades our National defence capabilities? No ‘proper’ Conservative would do such a thing BUT there again……..

Let’s not forget that Cameron had already – once he was elected Tory leader – promised a referendum on our membership of the EU if he won the 2010 election, but then a few months before the election, when the polls showed that the country was sick of Gordon Brown and might be prepared to elect the Tories, he reneged on the promise.
The result was that in 2010 he did not even manage to win a Tory majority against Brown, an open goal if ever there was one. So he went into partnership with the LibDems, and ignored the real conservatives in his party.
The world is full of toffs who can afford a little pretend socialism. Cameron with his inherited offshore funds and perpetual sense of personal entitlement and woke politics whose price he need never pay, is just one more.

Sage words, Sir John. Cameron, unfortunately, seems to be wanting to diminish himself as much as possible. The only bit of his memoirs I would like to read would be a section describing the changing mood of the Cameron team as they watched the referendum results come in. I gather that their private team had led them to expect a comfortable win.

The fact of the matter is the EU wants to be the new empire of the world and cannot do it without the UK who is allied to the USA, in my opinion, the UK should stand alone and not take sides, you have heard about the plan for a one-world government well this what remains establishment is fighting for the EU new empire, to control the world as posed to the USA that is where they are going, they need the UK money, armed forces and financial centre to do it or to be in with chance of doing it in 10 to 20 years time.

As confirmed by Verhofstadt at the Libdem party conference , who made it very clear that an EU empire was their objective, and the claim was cheered to the rafters by the Libdems. So yet another point made by EUsceptics , dismissed as a lie by EUphiles, has been proven correct.

“Devout Brexit-ultra John Redwood suffers for his cause. I hear the Wokingham MP politely turned down French Evian water at a Westminster dinner recently, asking the waiter if there was any British mineral water instead.”

The juridical system in England, that is judges and lawyers do very very well out of the EU in money terms drafting all their laws and making EU laws for them, is it no wonder that the juridical is fighting so hard inside parliament and outside parliament to stay in the EU.

On a different note I see China is threatening us again “with a military response” if we join up with the US for military manoeuvres in the south China sea.

Here I see little value in the extremely nationalistic Chinese market, we would do well to join in with US tariffs and look to Japan and Korea for free trade partners. When we are rid of the EU we are free to act.

Silly comparison Margaret.
The EU in increasing areas has legal supremacy.
If we decide to partner America in trade or foreign policy issues that will be the democratic decision of the UK.
If in the future the EU decides to go to war with, say Iraq, we will have to agree.
Common agreed treaty based foreign policy is an agreed ambition of the EU.
Not today, but soon.

No, but is calling for an EU Navy (which already exists), Army and Air Force and Cameron, some time back made what is to me a chilling statement that his hope was to see the EU expand so that it covered from the Urals to the Atlantic Ocean. Much like Germany did in WW1 and WW2 and we all know what that led to…..

Really Margaret! Out of the EU we will be sovereign and able to do as we see fit the US cannot say you will do X,Y,Z , or any other nation for that matter. If we remain in the EU we will be required to do the EU’s bidding whether we like it or not as the military / defence becomes an EU competence.

Today, as part of the EU we fuel an authoritarian Chinese state through trade. As a member of the EU we had no problem invading Iraq and other countries. Those are the facts learned from the past 40 years.

If we leave the EU we can choose to not fuel authoritarian regimes by preferring trade with free ones.

By the way – going to war without pushing them over actually helps an authoritarian regime.

MH……gosh I agree with you!
Blur had an ultimatum – you are either with us, or against us!
It wasn’t the EU ‘threatening that’ – how many guesses do we need?
Blur joined the guy on their knees to pray for divine guidance, prior to unleasing shock and awe – a term for mass destruction of largely innocent civilians caught up in Middle East posturing. The biggest lies are just breathtaking!

Why are faraway powers conducting military manoeuvres in the South China Sea?China has not threatened to block transit for commercial shipping.There’s a bit of a clue in the name ,South China Sea,to inform you as to whose area of interest it is.

Trade deals, Ms Howard? The US, Australia, etc, are waiting to sign some – so why can’t we just go ahead and do so?
What about the money we send to the EU? Tell us – how much of that do you think we get back?

Leave voters lied to? We do our own research. We can recognise lies, unlike remains, it seems. We’re not in thrall to Project Fear. We don’t only read Facebook and swallow every little Yellowhammer titbit that is fed to us. We believe in our country’s ability to soar when it’s unshackled from your EU. Why can’t YOU show a little more loyalty to it?

“do you think Aldi are laughing at us ? They’ve announced a £1 billion investment in opening another 100 UK stores over next two years”

Both Aldi and Lidl have become a huge success because they saw that our supermarkets were profiteering and not offering the public a fair deal.

That’s why Aldi is now preparing for a huge increase in trade after Brexit because cheap food etc will be the only things we will be able to afford. No doubt Lidl will make a similar announcement soon.

Whilst in the EU we have no say in which new laws/directives are imposed on us by the EU and cannot make our own laws where they run counter to the EU. I suppose in the light of that only 10% of our trading is with the EU we are already global but, because of the trading tariffs and constraints imposed by the EU, cannot fully develop our trade outside of the EU – not least to the benefit of developing nations seeking to trade hampered by EU embargos and tariffs. Finally, if anyone has been lied to, it has been by the remainers and those gullible enough to believe what they are told.

I see it differently. David Cameron made a promise to the British people which he broke, through ineptitude – weak negotiation – and deliberate vacillation – failing to prepare for No Deal/WTO.

He cut a poor figure both at home and overseas – indecisive, duplicitous and a bad political strategist.

If further evidence of his Remain credentials are required, look no further than the timing of this book launch; designed to cause maximum embarrassment to senior government figures trying to extricate the UK from the mess left by Cameron and May.

“In December 2001 the Pro-Euro Conservative Party disbanded … Leader John Stevens called the Conservative Party … “a cancer of extremism and xenophobia”. He was one of approximately 20 supporters who joined the Liberal Democrats and urged the remainder of the party’s claimed 500 members to follow suit.”

Coming from a small country like Denmark which supports free trade like the UK.

The global outlook the Danes had both before and during the EU membership, so having been in Britain for 25 years , the global outlook is not going to change whether we are in or out of the EU, what makes this country what it is.

As you say Denmark is small. The UK is the 10th largest exporter in the world. Denmark is 38th, way down the list.
We are 10th DESPITE being held down by the restrictive practices of the EU protectionist State and we earn more from the USA than from the whole of the EU. Do you not think we shall take advantage of our new freedom to conduct our own business dealings and increase our trade with the much bigger rest of the World out there? If not then you clearly do not not the British. Our country in regard to the EU has actually taken a hit in our growth rates ever since we joined the EU. Sir John has reported the details in a previous posting sometime back.
I hope he can reproduce it here to demonstrate that Britain really can do much better on its own without the incessant meddling from the incompetent amateurs in Brussels.

A pity there is no edit feature on this blog. Sorry for the double word “not” . The second should have been ‘know’ of course. I’m sure you realised that but just to emhasise, can we have an edit feature here SJ? Or not?

All countries in Europe have had lower growth rates after joining the Eu in 1972, as the post-war reconstruction and the booming 60s were gone, it has nothing to do the EU, the US had lower growth rates as well

The government is planning changes to the law aimed at bringing in longer sentences for some of England and Wales’ worst criminal offenders. The Sunday Telegraph says the measures could affect the sentencing of murderers of pre-school age children. The government also wants violent and sexual offenders to serve at least two thirds of their terms, the paper said. The prime minister plans to use next month’s Queen’s Speech to introduce the changes, according to the Telegraph.

Many years from now, people will be able to view this situation and clearly identify who were the EU stooges, useful idiots and fifth columnists and who was pulling their strings. Was Cameron one? Was he part of the EU’s Grand Plan?
Let’s hope that when it becomes clear, people won’t have to fear discussing it – as they would if we were to remain wrapped in the EU’s poisonous tentacles.

Hmm… We all know that David Cameron is a fanatical Remainer, and that to his dying day he will be weeping tears of bitterness that the UK regained her independence as a result of his actions. Moreover, if he had stayed on as an MP, he would by now have been expelled from the party and perhaps gone over to Lib Dems.

tomorrow it’ll be the wire- ‘down to the wire’- the incredible hulk will come of age- then we’ll see who’s going to blink- and as DD was wont to say the EU always settles at the last moment so then according to IDS prediction we’ll get that new trade deal with them as equal partners- believe that and you’ll believe in the man in the moon.

Sir John…..You declined to include my factual report that Wokingham Borough Libraries only ordered 1 copy – and only has 2 reserves to borrow it. It doesn’t fall to you to defend whether there is interest in reading Dave’s book. I’m surprised at you.

Thin Gruel Dave proved the EU is unreformable, beyond reason and why we have to leave despite all the talk.
His barbs at colleagues proves he is a bitter man and it is regrettable he doesn’t see the positive advantage he offered by the referendum.
Like Blair he believed in Choices as long as you backed his idea of choices.
When Sarkozy stonewalled his paltry requests I believe many UK citizens didn’t like that disrespect given to our UK Prime Minister and started the ball rolling away from the cosy EU club. Actions speak louder than words! JRM saw this like no other MP with his immortal words TG!

Sorry Mr Redwood, although I agree with some parts of your article regarding calling the referendum, David Cameron has largely come across as a petulant and spoiled child who did not get picked for the team and now blames everyone else except himself. He has shown very bad form by breaking convention to criticise his successors in a very public manner which directly attacks what they are trying to achieve and which is the very thing he promised to do.
To me this has tarred what many people see as a reasonably successful premiership. He still does not see or accept either the decision or the reasons behind it.

About John Redwood

John Redwood won a free place at Kent College, Canterbury, and graduated from Magdalen College Oxford. He is a Distinguished fellow of All Souls, Oxford. A businessman by background, he has set up an investment management business, was both executive and non executive chairman of a quoted industrial PLC, and chaired a manufacturing company with factories in Birmingham, Chicago, India and China. He is the MP for Wokingham, first elected in 1987.